The Industrial Revolution

  • Piano

    The piano first known as the pianoforte evolved from the harpsichord around 1700 to 1720, by Italian inventor Bartolomeo Cristofor. Harpsichord manufacturers had been determined to produce an instrument with a better dynamic response than the harpsichord. Bartolomeo Cristofali, the keeper of instruments in the court of Prince Ferdinand de Medici of Florence, was the first to solve the problem.
  • Flying Shuttle

    In 1733, John Kay invented the flying shuttle, an improvement to looms that enabled weavers to weave faster. The original shuttle contained a bobbin on to which the weft (weaving term for the crossways yarn) yarn was wound. It was normally pushed from one side of the warp (weaving term for the the series of yarns that extended lengthways in a loom) to the other side by hand. Large looms needed two weavers to throw the shuttle.
  • Steam Boat

    In 1803 Robert Fulton invented the steamboat
    In 1736, Jonathan Hulls took out a patent in England for a Newcomen engine-powered steamboat. (but James Watt's improvement to the steam engine made it feasible).
    In France, by 1774 Marquis Claude de Jouffroy and his colleagues had made a 13-metre (42 ft 8 in) working steamboat with rotating paddles.
    From 1784 James Rumsey built a pump-driven (water jet) boat and successfully steamed upstream on the Potomac River.
  • Refrigerator

    The first known artificial refrigeration was demonstrated by William Cullen at the University of Glasgow in 1748. However, he did not use his discovery for any practical purpose.
  • Hot Air Balloon

    The hot air balloon is the oldest successful human-carrying flight technology. It is part of a class of aircraft known as balloon aircraft. On November 21, 1783, in Annonay, France, the first untethered[1] manned flight was performed by Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier and François Laurent d'Arlandes in a hot air balloon created on December 14, 1782 by the Montgolfier brothers.
  • Telegraph

    The non-electric telegraph was invented by Claude Chappe in 1794. This system was visual and used semaphore, a flag-based alphabet, and depended on a line of sight for communication. The optical telegraph was replaced by the electric telegraph, the focus of this article.
  • Safety Pin

    The modern safety pin was the invention of Walter Hunt. For those of you who don't know what a safety pin is; it is an object commonly used to fasten clothing (i.e. cloth diapers) together. The very first pins used for clothing date back to the Mycenaeans during the 14th century BCE and were called fibulae.
  • Modern Photography

    "Photography" is derived from the Greek words photos ("light") and graphein ("to draw") The word was first used by the scientist Sir John F.W. Herschel in 1839. It is a method of recording images by the action of light, or related radiation, on a sensitive material.
  • Stapler

    The first recorded use of a stapler-like device was in the 1700s by King Louis the XV of France. In 1841, Samuel Slocum patented his idea for a very simple device to fasten pins into paper. However, in 1866 the patent for a simpler version of the present day type stapler was awarded to George McGill.
  • Rubber Band

    A rubber band, also known as a binder, elastic band, lackey band, laggy band, or elastic, is a short length of rubber and latex, elastic in nature and formed in the shape of a circle which is commonly used to hold multiple objects together. The rubber band was patented in England on March 17, 1845 by Stephen Perry.[1][2][3] Most rubber bands are manufactured out of natural rubber. Rubber bands come in a variety of sizes.
  • Type Writer

    After their invention in the 1860s, typewriters quickly became indispensable tools for practically all writing other than personal correspondence. They were widely used by professional writers, in offices, and for business correspondence in private homes. By the end of the 1980s, word processors and personal computers had largely displaced typewriters in most of these uses.
  • Radio

    During the 1860s, Scottish physicist, James Clerk Maxwell predicted the existence of radio waves; and in 1886, German physicist, Heinrich Rudolph Hertz demonstrated that rapid variations of electric current could be projected into space in the form of radio waves similar to those of light and heat.
  • Telephone

    In the 1870s, two inventors Elisha Gray and Alexander Graham Bell both independently designed devices that could transmit speech electrically (the telephone). Both men rushed their respective designs to the patent office within hours of each other, Alexander Graham Bell patented his telephone first. Elisha Gray and Alexander Graham Bell entered into a famous legal battle over the invention of the telephone, which Bell won.
  • Microphone

    A microphone, sometimes called a mic, is used, along with speakers, to amplify someone's voice, especially when they are talking to a large crowd in a large room. Emile Berliner invented the first microphone in 1876. Microphones are used in many devices such as hearing aids, telephones, tape recorders.
  • Automobile

    While there were many attempts at producing a car throughout history, the first iteration of the modern car was invented by Karl Benz in 1885 and was referred to as a "motorwagen." The original car had three wheels, two in the back and one in front, and was powered by a four-stroke cycle gasoline engine. Benz's first car had an open top, and the body closely resembled contemporary horse carriages. The four wheel car wasn't invented until 1893.
  • Roller Coaster

    The roller coaster is a popular amusement ride developed for amusement parks and modern theme parks. LaMarcus Adna Thompson patented the first coasters on January 20, 1885. In essence a specialized railroad system, a roller coaster consists of a track that rises in designed patterns, sometimes with one or more inversions (such as vertical loops) that turn the rider briefly upside down. The track does not necessarily have to be a complete circuit, as shuttle roller coasters exhibit.
  • Paper Clip

    A paper clip (or sometimes paperclip) is an instrument used to hold sheets of paper together, usually made of steel wire bent to a looped shape. Most paper clips are variations of the Gem type introduced in the 1890s or earlier, characterized by the almost two full loops made by the wire. Common to paper clips proper is their utilization of torsion and elasticity in the wire, and friction between wire and paper. When a moderate number of sheets are inserted between the two "tongues" of the clip,
  • Airplane

    The inventors of the first airplane were Orville and Wilbur Wright. On December 17, 1903, the Wright brothers made the first successful experiment in which a machine (aka airplane) carrying a man rose by its own power, flew naturally and at even speed, and descended without damage.
  • Zipper

    A zipper, zip, or zip fastener, is a commonly used device for binding the edges of an opening of fabric or other flexible material, as on a garment or a bag.[1] It is used in clothing (e.g., jackets and jeans), luggage and other bags, sporting goods, camping gear (e.g. tents and sleeping bags), and other items. Whitcomb L. Judson was an American mechanical engineer from Chicago who was the first to invent, conceive of the idea, and to construct a workable zipper.[2] The method still used today,
  • Refrigerator!

    When refrigerators became safe for home use, around 1915, they all looked very similar. The icehouse (or refrigerator) was used by placing ice cold water, from mountain run-off, or snow, in the icebox to keep items cool which would only work some months out of the year. In the hot summer months, there was no ice or cold water to keep items cold and ice makers were still a long way off.
  • Chewing Gum

    Chewing gum has a history that spans as far back as the ancient Greeks, who chewed the resin from mastic trees. However, it wasn't until 1928 that Walter Diemer happened upon just the right gum recipe to make the very first bubble gum, a special type of chewing gum that allows the chewer to make bubbles.